LI Mom Accused Of 'Concentration Camp' For DogsPolice Make Horrific Discovery In Selden Woman's Backyard After Tip To Rescue Group

Now, the Selden mother is charged with animal cruelty, and that appears to be just the beginning.

Sharon McDonough, 43, started the day cuffed and collared following a nightmare discovery at her home.

"It gives me the shivers," one neighbor said. "That's all I can say."

In an eerie scene Saturday night, investigators found a backyard burial ground, with the remains of at least 20 animals, behind McDonough's house. The remains were brought out in black plastic bags.

"This is one of the worst cases of animal abuse I have seen in the last 25 years I have been doing this," Chief Roy Gross, of the Suffolk County SPCA, said.

The gruesome revelation has left many in the neighborhood shaken.

"It looked like a real murder scene, as if they were gonna pull out dead bodies out there," neighbor Andrea Martinez said. "The smell was unbearable. They were taking bags out by the dozen. It was crazy."

It all started Thursday, when a local rescue group contacted police about conditions at the house. When authorities arrived, they knew something was amiss.

"We recovered at that time five dogs that were crammed in small cages, that appeared to be in danger, that were removed," Chief Gross said.

That kicked off an investigation that eventually led to the backyard. Now, investigators are looking into complaints about animals disappearing from the neighborhood, and allegations that McDonough tortured, killed, and buried them behind her house.

"It's really shocking, just unbelievable," said neighbor Greg Crecco.

One family says their dog and two cats have been missing, and they fear that the pets may be part of the terrible discovery.

"I'm really concerned about that – that everyone lose animals and they're just buried in the backyard," said neighbor Nicholas Dinubila.

Complicating matters, authorities say McDonough had seven children who lived with her in the house.

So far, McDonough is only facing misdemeanor animal cruelty charges for the dogs found inside her home on Thursday.

She's free from jail Sunday night after pleading not guilty, but authorities say she could face more serious charges after investigators determine how the animals buried in the backyard died.

"It was a concentration camp for the animals," the suspect's son, Douglas McDonough, said. "My sisters and me, we got the end of it, too."

Investigators tell CBS 2 that McDonough's eldest son was the one who tipped off the rescue group to conditions at the home.

Meawhile, the live animals recovered from McDonough's home, including several dogs and a cat, are doing fine. They are currently up for adoption at the Suffolk County SPCA.

CBS 2's Scott Rapoport contributed to this report.

Never make someone a priority in your life when that someone treats you like an option.

The case of Sharon McDonough, charged with animal cruelty, took a bizarre turn Monday when members of animal welfare group Rescue Ink interrupted a Suffolk SPCA news conference to accuse the SPCA of mishandling the case.

McDonough, 43, of Selden, was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty on Saturday after five neglected dogs and a cat were recovered from her home. Twenty other dead animals, all believed to be dogs, were dug up from her backyard. She pleaded not guilty to the charges Sunday.

The SPCA, which removed the animals from the home and is still investigating the case, held a news conference in a Farmingville pet store Monday with the intention of asking the public for more information about the case.

But several members of Rescue Ink, a Long Beach-based group that describes itself on its Web site as a "bunch of tattooed, motorcycle-riding tough guys who have joined together to fight animal cruelty," co-opted the news conference before it began. A member who goes by the nickname Joe Panz said McDonough's six young children, including an 18-month-old, "have been let down by everybody" and accused the SPCA of leaving the children out of the dogs' adoption process.

A shouting match ensued between Panz and Michelle Curtin, director of Second Chance Wildlife Rescue, a group holding the animals for the SPCA. Suffolk police arrived minutes later and escorted Rescue Ink members out of the pet store.

Suffolk SPCA chief Roy Gross said only one dog has been adopted, by an SPCA detective, he said. The other dogs, and a cat, are still rehabilitating, Gross said. He also said the SPCA contacted Sharon McDonough's oldest son, Doug, 21, and that he said he is unable to care for the animals at this time.

Panz and his colleagues maintained after the dust-up that SPCA's handling of the case was "haphazard."

Suffolk police said no one was arrested.

McDonough is scheduled to appear in First District Court in Central Islip Tuesday. Attempts to reach her and Doug McDonough were unsuccessful.

Doug McDonough told reporters on Saturday that his mother forced his sisters to torture animals. A spokesman for the state Office of Child and Family Services declined to comment. Gross and Suffolk police have declined to comment on the allegation.

Gross said authorities are investigating allegations from neighbors that Sharon McDonough stole their pets. The McDonough house, defaced by the words "Killer" and "Guilty" painted on the mailbox and garage, was cordoned off Monday.

A note from the Suffolk Division of Public Health was taped to McDonough's front door Monday, saying the agency wanted to know about "bags of human feces in the backyard and garage." A spokeswoman did not return a call for comment.

iluvk9 wrote:A shouting match ensued between Panz and Michelle Curtin, director of Second Chance Wildlife Rescue, a group holding the animals for the SPCA. Suffolk police arrived minutes later and escorted Rescue Ink members out of the pet store.

SELDEN, N.Y. — Authorities resumed digging up a Long Island woman’s backyard this week and found 22 more animal carcasses, an official with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Wednesday.

Last month, authorities acting on a tip from Sharon McDonough’s adult son found 20 dead dogs buried in her yard.

Chief Roy Gross of the Suffolk County SPCA said authorities with a search warrant returned to the home in Selden on Tuesday. Gross would not say if the 22 newly discovered carcasses were cats or dogs.

McDonough, a 43-year-old mother of seven, has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor animal cruelty, although authorities say additional criminal charges are possible. She is due back in court on Monday.

Her 21-year-old son, Douglas McDonough, turned in his mother on Nov. 5. He described the home as “a concentration camp for the animals” and claims he and some of his siblings were present when animals were abused and killed. Gross said those claims are part of the ongoing investigation.

Defense attorney James D’Angelo did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

After McDonough’s arrest, some neighbors feared the worst for family pets that went missing in recent months. But Gross said Wednesday his investigation has found it “highly unlikely” that any of the dead dogs found last month had been stolen. He suspects McDonough either purchased the animals or adopted them through shelters and other traditional outlets, although he emphasized his investigation was ongoing.

A Family Court judge took custody of the woman’s six daughters — who range in age from 18 months to 13 — following her arrest last month. They are staying with friends, relatives and two were placed in foster care.

Besides the dead animals in the yard, authorities also found a shepherd mix, a beagle mix, an Italian greyhound, a cocker spaniel mix, a pug and a tabby cat living in wretched cages in the house.

Never make someone a priority in your life when that someone treats you like an option.

A Selden woman tortured and killed a cat and strangled a dog in front of one of her children in a house filled with the stench of excrement, where the kids were not allowed to use the bathroom and had to relieve themselves in buckets, the Suffolk County district attorney said Thursday.

"We're talking about a mother who subjected her children to the most horrific ... living conditions I have ever seen," Thomas Spota said at a Riverhead news conference after a 13-count grand jury indictment was handed up in a case that earlier made national headlines.

Sharon McDonough's six daughters slept in their mother's bedroom because their rooms housed cages for the family's pets, which rarely were allowed outside, Spota said.

McDonough, 43, also beat her 1-year-old daughter for crying and duct-taped the mouth of one of her dogs for barking, Spota said.

PHOTOS: Selden woman charged with animal cruelty

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McDonough pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead earlier Thursday to the indictment charging her with felony cruelty to animals, misdemeanor torturing animals and misdemeanor child endangerment.

She was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail by Judge James Hudson.

If convicted of the felony charges, McDonough faces a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison.

Her attorney, James Saladino of Riverhead, said in court he may use an insanity defense at McDonough's trial.

Spota said a Suffolk grand jury heard an audio recording made by one of McDonough's children of her threatening to kill one of the other children.

McDonough's daughters, who range in age from 20 months to 13 years old, lived on a diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese, and were forced to use buckets to relieve themselves, Spota said. They were not allowed to take showers.

When her son Doug, 21, bought frozen TV dinners for his sisters last summer, McDonough "took those TV dinners and refused to give them to her children," Spota said.

The incident apparently led Doug to move out of the house last summer and call authorities in November, Spota said.

"I consider him a hero," he said.

The Suffolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in November found four dogs and a cat who were malnourished and covered with dried feces, said SPCA chief of operations Steve Laton.

One other dog who had been in the house only two weeks was in adequate health, he said.

The animals were removed from the home in November and have shown "significant progress," assistant district attorney John Cortes said at the news conference.

The SPCA found the carcasses of 42 dogs buried in McDonough's backyard, Spota said. Dead cats were thrown out in the trash, he said.

McDonough's daughters were removed from the home in November and are living with family and friends.

The earliest charges against McDonough date to June 2006, when she "strangled one of the dogs in the presence of her then-10-year-old daughter," Spota said.

In November, McDonough slammed a cat against a wall and wrapped it with duct tape before hanging it from the ladder of one of the girl's bunk beds until the cat suffocated, Spota told reporters.

When one of the children asked her why she abused the pets, she said, "It's my treat," Spota said.

Spota said there was no evidence McDonough forced her children to torture animals. "Everything she did to these animals was done by her," he said.

Doug McDonough told reporters last year his mother forced her children to abuse the pets. He was in court Thursday but did not speak to reporters